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Tragically Hip’s Road Apples still tastes fresh

The great Canadian bar rock record came out 25 years ago.

By Joshua KlokeSpecial to the Star

Tues., March 1, 2016

On the 501 streetcar recently, I overheard a man tell anyone who would listen about the research he was doing on hockey and Canadian culture. “People who used frozen horses--- as pucks called them ‘road apples,’” he said.

It’s a phrase better known as the title of one of the great Canadian bar rock records of all time, the Tragically Hip’s Road Apples, released 25 years ago. It might not have the wide-ranging commercial appeal of Fully, Completely, their next release, but the spirit of the band’s once intense live shows is never more evident than on that groundbreaking album.

Recorded in 1990 on the back of the massive amount of touring the band did for Up to Here, their full-length debut, the Hip originally wanted to title the record “Saskadelphia” as a nod to the constant touring they’d done. Most, including the band’s U.S. label, didn’t go for the title, finding it “too Canadian.”

The Tragically Hip still lure in huge crowds, here entertaining thousands of Leafs fans at Yonge-Dundas Square in October 2014. (Chris So / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Little did they know the title would hardly matter as Road Apples would go on to cement the Hip’s status as the pre-eminent rockers in Canada — albeit with far less traction stateside — who can still be heard in bars, hockey arenas and cottages across the country today.

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In honour of its 25th anniversary, here are five reasons why Road Apples still resonates today.

1. It’s as close as you’ll get to a live record in a studio

Recorded at Daniel Lanois’ old French mansion, Kingsway Studio, in New Orleans, the band did little to tinker with their signature live sound. The vibe of both a sweaty club and a sweaty city is captured on this, their most blues-heavy record. Overdubs are few and far between as Bobby Baker’s guitar solos have room to grow. We live in a time now when producers can completely transform a band’s sound, but Road Apples is a snapshot of a band at its rawest.

Road Apples: the 1991 album with the oh-so-Canadian name. (Sire Records)

2. Gordon Downie’s poetic lyrics are fully formed

Downie is now known as Canada’s rock poet laureate, having essentially provided a road map to a Canada so few rock fans knew about previously. Road Apples is Downie’s coming-out party: he tears apart Sault Ste. Marie’s 1990 declaration that it was to be an “English only” city on “Born in the Water”; provides his take on King Lear on “Cordelia”; references the Golden Rim Motor Inn on the side of the Trans Canada Highway on “The Luxury”; and, most notably, dives deep into the mysterious death of famed Canadian painter Tom Thomson on “Three Pistols.” Talk about educated rock.

3. Bobby Baker and Paul Langlois form a unique duo

When it comes to guitars, the Tragically Hip have become a two-headed monster. There is a synergy that no studio production can create: the combination of rhythm guitarist Langlois’ chunky riffs and lead guitarist Baker’s bluesy solos is now the backbone of the band’s signature sound. Sure, Downie usually gets most of the credit in the band, but generations of young, Canadian guitar bands grew up emulating this sound.

Members of The Tragically Hip pictured some time in the 1980s.

4. The Hip at their most tender

For all the bangers on this record, it’s the quiet, slower tracks that really suck you in. “Fiddler’s Green” is a stirring acoustic number that serves as an ode to Downie’s young nephew who died from a heart ailment the September before recording. Too personal for Downie to play live, it was not featured at a Hip show until 2006. And “Long Time Running” is the ultimate small-town love story, set to a slowly winding blues riff. Every Hip record since has contained at least one of their standard acoustic-based songs, but none of them come close to the intimacy of “Fiddler’s Green” and “Long Time Running.”

5. It’s a party starter

Want to kick-start a party? Either “Little Bones,” “On the Verge” or the Hip’s most rousing song ever, “Three Pistols,” ought to do the trick. Featuring chugging riffs and shout-along lyrics, this is modern FM rock at its finest. The Tragically Hip may have become something of a nostalgia-based legacy act but perhaps with good reason. If you go to see the Hip in 2016, these are the songs fans still want to hear.

The Tragically Hip perform at Oakwood Place in Hamilton in 2002. (Scott Gardner)

Cover to cover

Though the Tragically Hip don’t tour as frequently as they used to, that doesn’t mean you can’t hear their songs live. They’ve inspired legions of tribute acts, many of whom perform regularly in Southern Ontario.

The Practically Hip, perhaps the closest act in terms of look and sound, are at the Red Chev in Guelph on March 5, the Endzone Bar and Grill in Hamilton on April 23.

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